DeShawn Parker Scores 6000th Win

Jockey DeShawn Parker scored his 6000th win aboard For Mama at Horseshoe Indianapolis Tuesday night. Only 20 other jockeys have reached that milestone.

“This means the world to me, and I was riding for my dad, because I couldn't have been here without him,” said Parker, who lost his Dad, Daryl, a longtime steward in the state of Ohio in the spring of 2021 to cancer. “He knew I was getting close to this milestone, but he never said much about any of the milestones. He's the one that kept me calm, and if I was getting worked up over something, I would give him a call and tell him what was going on and he'd calm me down. I miss not being able to do that.”

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Herbuveaux, Parker Named ’21 Pete Pedersen Award Winners

John Herbuveaux and Daryl E. Parker were recognized as the 2021 Pete Pedersen Award by the Racing Officials Accreditation Program (ROAP) at the University of Arizona Race Track Industry Program's Global Symposium on Racing and Gaming Awards Luncheon in Tucson, Arizona Tuesday. The award is presented to stewards who have demonstrated professional excellence, integrity, and benevolent consideration in the performance of their duties. Contributions of time and expertise to the horse racing industry on the local and national levels are also significant factors in the selection of Pedersen award winners.

The award is named in honor of Pete Pedersen, the nationally recognized California steward and accomplished journalist who set a standard of excellence.

Herbuveaux, accredited by ROAP in 1993, served as a racing official in New Mexico, Louisiana, Idaho, Arizona, Canada, Washington and California. He has also held the position of racing secretary, announcer and director of racing. He served as a steward in California at a number of tracks, including Santa Anita and Del Mar.

Parker, who will be awarded the honor posthumously, was the first African American to serve as a steward in U.S. racing history. Beginning in 1986, he was a steward in Michigan, in addition to all three Ohio tracks. The former exercise rider and jockey agent also holds the distinction of being the second Black racing official in the country while at Fairmount Park and Cahokia Downs.

The award for Parker will be presented to his son, DeShawn, at a later date in a separate ceremony in Ohio.

The Pete Pedersen Award special selection committee is composed of five members: Hall of Fame jockey Pat Day; former The Jockey Club steward and NYRA track veterinarian Dr. Ted Hill; Dan Metzger, TOBA president; Scott Wells, president of Remington Park and Lone Star Park; and former leading trainer and ROAP accredited steward Hal Wiggins.

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Quinones, Parker To Receive 2020, ’21 George Woof Memorial Jockey Award On Sunday

In a dual ceremony that will honor a pair of distinguished jockeys, DeShawn Parker and Luis M. Quinones, Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., will officially honor both the 2020 and 2021 winners of racing's prestigious George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award on Sunday, May 16.

Instituted by Santa Anita in 1950 to honor the legacy of the legendary jockey George Woolf, the Woolf Award, which can only be won once, honors those riders whose careers embodied class and dignity and have thus represented Thoroughbred horse racing in a consistently professional manner.

Currently based in Ohio, Quinones, America's second leading rider by races won in 2019 with 314 victories, was originally scheduled to accept the 2020 Woolf Trophy on March 22 of last year, but due to complications related to the COVID-19 virus, he will instead participate in a Runhappy Winner's Circle ceremony between races with his close personal friend and 2021 Woolf Award winner DeShawn Parker this Sunday.

Quinones, 42, outpolled a highly respected group of finalists last year that included Tyler Baze, Javier Castellano, Chris Emigh and James Graham.

“It's a great honor just to be on the ballot for this award,” said Quinones last spring.  “Winning the Woolf Award is incredible.  I'm looking forward to coming out there and I know this is something I will never forget.”

DeShawn Parker, who at five feet, 10 inches, “stands out” in any jockey colony, became the first African-American rider since 1895 to lead all American jockeys in races won in 2010, with 377 trips to the Winner's Circle and he becomes the 72nd Woolf Award winner, dating back to Gordon Glisson in 1950.

In 2011, he upped that total to 400 wins, and was again the nation's leading jockey by races won.  A Cincinnati, Ohio native, Parker, 50, was a dominant force at Mountaineer Park in West Virginia for more than 20 years and he has also enjoyed much success at Indiana Grand, as he led all riders there in 2020, and at Sam Houston Race Park, where he was their leading rider in 2015.

Fast closing in on 6,000 career wins, Parker is the son of longtime highly respected Ohio racing steward, Daryl Parker, who passed away in Cincinnati on March 4.

“My idol, my best friend and a great father!” Parker tweeted on March 5.  “He meant so much to my life and my career.  I can only hope to be as great as he was…”

Parker, who outpolled fellow jockeys Alex Birzer, Jorge Martin Bourdieu, Kendrick Carmouche and Aaron Gryder to win this year's Woolf Award, and Quinones, will be accompanied on Sunday by their wives, children and close friends.

Billy Johnson, who died last December, was agent for both Parker and Quinones during the years they were at or near the top of the national standings by wins.

The exact timing of Sunday's event will be determined following entries on Thursday.

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Belterra Park’s First Stakes Of 2021 To Honor Late Daryl Parker

Belterra Park in Cincinnati, Ohio will conduct the first stakes race of the season with the $75,000 Daryl E. Parker / Tall Stack Stakes on May 6, 2021. It will be contested at 6 ½ furlongs for 3-year-old registered Ohio-Bred runners.

Parker, a Cincinnati native, was the first Black steward in U.S. racing. He worked in this capacity at Thistledown and Mahoning Valley racetracks in Ohio. Daryl was first hired as an exercise rider for his uncle, trainer Oscar Dishman at River Downs. He eventually became a racing official at Fairmount Park and Cahokia Downs in Illinois.

He is also the father of George Woolf Award-winning and three-time national leading jockey, DeShawn Parker.

Daryl Parker, age 69, passed away after a long battle with cancer on March 5, 2021.

It is with great pride that Belterra Park can honor a man who dedicated his life to the racing industry.

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